Within
by Navyrants
Summary: Blake has been struggling with a strange part of herself for a while now, but she thinks she's finally figured it out.
1. Within

She had cut her hair.

_He_ had cut _his_ hair.

Blake thought it was odd that he had to remind himself of this, though the rational part of his mind knew it would take some getting used to. It was an entirely new concept to him that he could be sometimes male, sometimes female. Even sometimes in-between or nowhere near.

It had come from surfing the internet one day. He'd been trying to find an answer to why he sometimes felt strange-felt as though the weights on his chest and the lack between his legs were strange when they shouldn't have been. These thoughts had made him think there was something very wrong with him, so he'd done research.

Transgender was the first word he came across, but it didn't quite fit right. He didn't feel wrong about his body all the time, maybe half the time at most. But it was a step in the right direction and it made him begin to think that maybe he wasn't quite broken. He'd stepped away from his research and gone into the bathroom, binding his chest down with ace bandages. He'd liked the way it looked. A bit of further research revealed that ace bandages could be harmful if worn extensively. He stopped using them.

He'd continued searching for something to describe him more accurately, and he'd soon found it. Genderfluid. It described an individual that sometimes identified as one gender, sometimes another. The pieces clicked into place, and it was perfect.

He'd cut his hair.

It had been a rash decision he'd made while staring in the mirror. He had the vague feeling he wouldn't like it so much when he felt feminine again, but for now he loved it. It was a weight off his chest to see himself with careful contouring and short hair that framed his face in a very _boyish_ way.

In some ways he felt he shouldn't be so concerned with being _boyish_, since it was such an arbitrary term, but at the same time the last thing he wanted was to be mistaken for a girl on his male days. Not anymore. Not now that he knew.

He smiled at his reflection.


	2. Without

Weiss found him first. She wasn't happy.

"Blake! What are you doing? Why did you cut your hair? You've made a mess in here!" Perhaps 'not happy' was an understatement. But Blake _was_ happy, so he'd offered her a small smile and promised to clean it up, his voice a bit lower than normal. That was when the heiress had taken a step back and looked more closely at him-observing the deliberate make-up that make his jaw seem sharper, his face rougher. The lack of his usual eye make-up, replaced with something much more subtle that gave a different look entirely. She'd pursed her lips and given the faunus a look.

"Is there something you need to tell us?" This had been a surprise to Blake, as Weiss was who he'd most expected rejection from. But there was none on her face, only curiosity, and perhaps a little annoyance which he assumed was from being left out of the loop.

"Yes." A pause. "All of you." At this, Weiss took the hint and nodded before spinning around and leaving the bathroom. He could hear her informing their other two teammates that he would have an announcement once he was finished in the restroom. He'd known this confrontation would come very quickly after cutting his hair, but he still sighed and took a bit longer than was totally necessary to clean up.

When he stepped out of the bathroom, his three teammates were waiting patiently.

Ruby gasped.

"Blake! You look so cute! Oh my gosh I _love_ it!" The hooded girl zipped over to her friend, reaching her small hands up to run her fingers through the newly shortened hair. Blake breathed a soft sigh of relief. If Ruby accepted it, she could keep everyone else in line. Then again, he still hadn't exactly made the announcement. He glanced over at his partner.

"Heyyy~ lookin' good, Blakey!" Though he rolled his eyes at the words, they brought a warmth to his chest. Maybe they'd understand. Maybe things would be okay. Whatever happened, he wasn't going to run away this time.

He'd promised.

Weiss was staring at him impatiently, arms crossed and eyebrow quirked. He took a breath and straightened his shoulders, preparing himself for their reactions.

"I'm genderfluid." His voice was flat and if one didn't know him well, they might be fooled into thinking he wasn't nervous. He assumed he would have to explain the term to them, but he decided he would let them ask. Moments passed with not a word said. Ruby looked confused. Yang was relaxed. Weiss looked expectant. The heiress seemed to realize there was nothing else to say.

"That's all?" Blake's eyebrows furrowed-she really had a knack for getting on his nerves.

"What do you mean, 'that's all'? This is an important part of me that I'm choosing to share with you. Do you have any idea how long it took me to figure this out?" He crossed his arms, glaring harshly at the heiress, who looked just as miffed as he felt. Yang, however, stepped in before the argument could escalate.

"And," she said, pushing between the two girls. "We're very happy you shared that with us. We _all_," a pointed look at Weiss, "want you to know that no matter what, you're still our Blake." She paused for a moment. "Unless you want a different name, in which case you're not Blake, but you're still our teammate!" She finished with a blinding grin, slinging an arm around Weiss and Blake. Then Ruby spoke up.

"What's genderfluid?" She had her head tipped to the side in that cute, curious way, eyes wide and brow furrowed. To the faunus's surprise, it was the heiress who answered.

"It's when one's gender fluctuates between several different ones, stereotypically male and female." The answer was textbook-exact, something so characteristic of the studious girl that it earned an eyeroll from both Yang and Blake.

"Oh. Okay!" She said no more as she climbed onto her bunk to begin her nightly routine of cleaning Crescent Rose.

Blake looked at Yang, starting to doubt that his _entire_ team could really be this accepting. He knew from being a faunus that there was always a bigot. He glanced up at her blonde teammate.

"You...really meant what you said, Yang? All of it?" She squeezes his shoulder reassuringly.

"You bet! You're a handsome boy, Blake! You're also a beautiful girl. And no matter which you are at any given time, we'll love you all the same." The cat faunus turned his eyes toward the heiress, who still had not expressed either acceptance or rejection. Weiss sniffed daintily.

"She's right for once."

And that was that.


End file.
